2002 Forx Film Fest
Category: Fargo Filmmaking Wiki Category: Film Festival The first annual Forx Film Fest was held Saturday, December 14, 2002 at the Empire Arts Center in Grand Forks, North Dakota. There were thirteen shorts and five feature-length movies the festival's first year. No official awards categories were set up the first year, but audience members ranked their favorite movies. Awards and Award Winners ::Audience Favorite: Candor The following movies were shown in the inaugural year of the fest: December 14 Saturday Afternoon Session * Tales of the Gallant Knight (2001) directed by Peter Wagner, 10 min. ::In a medieval kingdom, a bumbling kitchen servant dreams of becoming a knight in this clay animation comedy made in Fisher, Minnesota. * The Doctor's Visit (2002) directed by Amy Jackson, 5 min. ::A young man waiting for a doctor's appointment seems unusually sensitive to others' maladies in this short by Minnesota native and UND film student Amy Jackson. * Icons of Coil "Former Self" directed by Jon A. Bjerk and Kristian Kjelsberg, 4 min. ::Music video made in Norway. * You Know (1981) directed by Christopher P. Jacobs, 20 min. ::After many years estranged, a man and his daughter reunite at his mother's funeral and secrets from their past gradually unfold in this two-character drama written by former UND faculty member Joan Eades. * Nancy Burggraf: Power and Stride (2002) directed by Sarah McCurdy and Christopher Mohs, 56 min. ::This documentary chronicles the career of ice skating instructor Nancy Burggraf, made at Concordia College. * Options: Choices and Rights (1996) directed by Gordon Haug, 3 min. ::A music video dealing with the handicapped, made in Crookston, Minnesota. * Becky Visits Barbie (2001) directed by Gordon Haug, 8 min. :: A dramatization of handicapped issues using Barbie dolls, made in Crookston, Minnesota and previously screened at a festival in Moscow. * Hollywood, Wisconsin (2001) directed by Ted Roesgen, 78 min. ::When a fire damages their school auditorium, a group of children decide to make a movie in this family comedy-drama featuring Fisher, Minnesota actress Lori Barrett and shot on 16mm film. (VHS video screened) * Boundless (2002) directed by Terence Brown II, 75 min. ::Fargo filmmakers Eric L. Thompson and Terence Brown II depict the strange powers of the mind, dreams, and potential abilities of someone in a coma in this supernatural mystery drama. * Come Back Home (2001) directed by Trish McGuire, 24 min. ::Documentary by Grand Forks filmmaker Trish McGuire about a public and private street project to help save salmon's habitat by improving water runoff. Saturday Evening Session * A Small Town Remembers: The Wall Comes to Esmond, ND (2001) directed by Aaron Quanbeck, 28 min. ::A documentary about the moving Viet Nam wall. * HIV Positive Perspectives: An Interview with Artist Barton Lidice Benes (1998) directed by Aaron Quanbeck and Kathy Williams, 25 min. ::A documentary produced at the UND Television Center about one of the artists involved with the opening of the [Dakota Museum of Art. * Homo Erectus Dementia by Kim A. Amundson, Kristian Kjelsberg, and Simen Aker, 13 min. ::Experimental mystery-suspense made in Norway. * Trailer for Mean (2003) directed by Charles Hinton, 2 min. ::A trailer to the featurette in post-production. In a world of guns, drugs, deceit and murder, Brax and Lyle, two ruthless hit men, must seek, destroy, and return what is due to Georgie, their boss lady. * The Brooklyn Brothers (2001) directed by Kristian Kjelsberg, 20 min. ::UND student Kristian Kjelsberg made this dark gangster comedy about a pair of inept New York hit men who try to hide out in North Dakota and unwittingly come up against the Norwegian mafia. * Rubbed Out (2002) directed by Terence Brown II, 85 min. ::A mystery thriller about a man who receives threatening phone calls and then wakes up one day to find his identitiy has ben erased from all records and none of his friends seem to recognize him. :::World Premiere Feature! * Candor (1998), 90 min. ::Grand Forks actor Franklin Glimm co-stars in and helped produce this drama about American small-town and rural life. The plot about a baseball-playing farm boy in love with the wealthy mayor's daughter is based on the Harry Chapin song "The Mayor of Candor Lied." Shot on 16mm film (VHS video screened) * Vengeance of the Sorceress (2002) directed by Christopher P. Jacobs, 92 min. ::Written by rural eastern Minnesota resident Mary Novacek and directed by Grand Forks filmmaker Christopher Jacobs, this mystery-fantasy follows a group of university students investigating the sudden disappearence of several friends who had been involved with the unwrapping of an Egyptian mummy.